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[Fortune86]

((If you Helios Laura then no. He's just working on a defence system.))

 

Helios watched the two robots lollop around but turned when Nicolas appeared behind him.

 

"What do you think?" he asked gesturing to his two creations. "They will take a few days to finish, but I believe they can serve the purpose required."

 

As he spoke one of the robots began to approach them. Like it's twin had done with Helios it lowered its neck to bring its head close to Nicolas. He regarded him critically for a moment, made a small noise of affection, then turned away to resume its patrol.

[Laura-Lana]

"A school for mutants and normal humans? Together?! Are they crazy?"

 

"I see you can relate to Senator Kelly's feelings when it comes to this particular project."

 

Geso spat on the ground.

 

"Operative 24!"

 

He sighed. "Excuse me, Mina. But this is disgusting."

 

"You'll like your next mission then. You'll join this school. With an alias of course. And make sure the project fails. Disasterously."

 

Geso brightened. "You are right. That does sound better."

 

"And while you are there you'll collect as much information as you can about the mutants being there. We'll have to decide which to mark for capture and further study and which need to be eliminated directly. Your input will be invaluable."

 

A nasty smile played around Geso's lips. "I can do that."

 

"Can you?"

 

He frowned. "Of course. How can you doubt me?"

 

"Because if you run around and murder people arbitarily you'll be discovered before you can do any good. This will need discipline."

 

"I have discipline."

 

"I hope so, Operative 24. I don't think the Senator is going to give you another chance if you mess this one up."

 

Geso pressed his lips together.

 

"I won't fail"

---

Rolo decided to ignore the question of Helios whereabouts for a while and take a much needed shower, to wash the blood away.

[DragonSpirit009]

“They are indeed magnificent and the younger ones seem to like them too.” Nicolas spoke smiling as one of them showed their affection towards him. It was rare to see him smile but something as amazing as this pleased him.

 

“I’ve let Rolo rest in one of the rooms. What should we do with him? Thou we welcome this guest, I don’t generally trust them.” Nicolas spoke turning his attention to Helios now.

[Fortune86]

Helios smiled when Nicolas seemed pleased with his creations. He looked up at the wall of the fortress and appeared to notice his audience for the first time. It did indeed contain several of the younger mutants who were regarding the robots as they might an animal at the zoo, as creatures to be marveled. A couple of them spotted Helios looking at them and waved. He returned them with one of his own before turning back to Nicolas.

 

"I understand your concerns about Rolo, but although he is not an ally he is not our enemy. We will simply let him rest and recuperate and when or if he expresses a desire to leave we will let him do so. I believe it might be safer for you to teleport him outside rather than take him through one of the exits. I do not wish to believe that he would lead anyone here who would harm us, but there are those who would not ask gently."

 

One of Helios greatest fears was if someone was captured and forced, via torture or other means, into betraying Avalon's whereabouts. As a result not everyone knew all the exits and entrances out of and into the fortress. If someone was taken, then the ones they knew of could be sealed to prevent attack.

[Laura-Lana]

It was amazing how much clean skin and clean clothes could do for ones wellbeing, Rolo reflected. A pity that he couldn't wash the guilt away just as easily.

 

The boy ate some of the food that was provided, then he decided to start exploring. Nicolas had said he wasn't supposed to leave this place, but Rolo was sure if he could find an exit or even a window he'd be able to leave this place. Between his flight power and his time suspension it was hard to keep him locked up unless someone decided to put him into a cage and never, ever opened the door again.

 

He'd probably stay and see if he could convince Helios to let him go with permission anyway. Going blatantly against their wishes seemed poor repayment of his and Nick's friendlyness but he would feel better if he knew he could escape if he wanted to.

---

 

When Geso had been told that he'd get a different hair colour and contacts to change his eye colour he had expected to be made more nondescript. Instead his hair had been coloured violett to match his eyes. The contacts added a bit more red to said eyes making them more intense.

 

"Not the way to stay inconspicious." he complained to Mina.

 

"Don't complain, Rolo. It's actually very tame." Mina said. "Remember the human children who go to this school want to share their classes with mutants. Most of them like to be different and among other things that means looking different one way or the other too. And that is not even counting the strange physical phenomens some of the mutants are going to display."

Edited January 21, 2013 by Laura-Lana

[DragonSpirit009]

“I see what you are saying Helios but I still have no trust. He will most likely find away to escape and maybe in form his comrades about it. We don’t even know what abilities he has as well. If he causes a threat to Avalon you know I won’t hold back on eliminating him. I know you don’t want people to die but if he is a danger to them…” Nicolas spoke pointing to the younger ones. “I will take him out.”

 

Nicolas turned around looking at some of the younger mutants who looked down on them. He smiled at them and some returned a smile as well, where others admired Helios’ creations.

 

“If you need me just call.” Nicolas spoke disappearing into a puff of smoke and reappearing in the kitchen.

[Fortune86]

Helios' shoulders sagged when Nicolas informed him in no uncertain terms of what he would do should Rolo betray their trust. Helios wanted to belive that it wouldn't come to that, but as the leader of Nameless he couldn't just rely on hope.

 

"Just don't kill him" he urged. "If needs must, there are other ways of preventing him from harming us."

 

After Nicolas left Helios thought about what he had said about Rolo finding a way to escape. If he did they could simply seal the exit he had used and make a new one, but he disliked the idea of Rolo just wandering around on his own. Despite Helios' best efforts Avalon did hold its own dangers. Everyone if Nameless knew about them and could avoid or deal with them, but Rolo was an outsider. He probably hadn't been warned. What if Rolo went exploring and bumped into Scissors for example?

 

Helios sighed, realising he was being a bad host. He should find Rolo and explain that some areas where off limits. Rolo might venture into them out of curiousity anyway, but at least he'd know what to expect.

 

He looked back at his roaming creations for a minute or so and then started to walk towards the gate back inside the fortress.

[Laura-Lana]

Nicolas had told him to remember his room number. So the first thing he did was have a look at the number next to his room. It was 24. For some reason that seemed ironic to him, but he couldn't say why exactly.

 

Rolo wandered down the corridor and found an entertainment room, just as promised complete with TV and Computer. He wondered if this place had internet, but decided to leave that question for later.

 

The young mutant followed the corridor some more and arrived at another door. He turned the doorhandle...

 

((No idea how Avalon looks so no idea where he is right now))

[Fortune86]

((I'm toying with the idea of having parts of it move around as part of a defence system to throw off intruders, but also because it will mean that we don't need an accurate floor plan. ))

 

Helios stepped onto the hard light bridge that lead across the Abyss, a five mile drop right into the dark bowels of Avalon's foundations. There were of course several safety features in place that would prevent anyone from accidentally falling to their deaths, but as they could not been seen in the gloom many people felt unnerved about crossing it. Helios however had his usual absolute faith in his work and wandered across without a second thought, as this was the fastest way to get back into Avalon's main building.

 

At the end of the path, still suspended over the Abyss, lay the door leading to the lower set of sleeping quarters. He was guessing that Nicolas may had put Rolo in there, as they were widely regarded to be the more comfortable rooms. Just as he reached for the handle he saw that it was already moving. Someone was coming out.

[Laura-Lana]

((I remember one or two RP's where moving rooms would have been an excellent explanation of otherwise very weird phenomen))

 

Rolo opened the door and found a light bridge suspended over a five mile drop on the other side. It looked a bit intimidating but Rolo had no time to reflect on that, because right in front of him was Helios.

 

The other mutant had his hand stretched out as if he had been reaching for the door.

 

"Oh! Hi!" Rolo said, admittedly not the most intelligent conversation, but it was all that came to his mind right now. "I had wondered where you were."

Edited January 22, 2013 by Laura-Lana

[Fortune86]

((True

 

Helios is on a hard light bridge suspended over a five mile drop.))

 

Helios smiled when Rolo appeared on the other side of the door. Finding him was a lot easier than he thought it might be.

 

"I was looking for you" he admitted. "While you are of course free to explore Avalon, I thought it might be wise to warn you against certain venturing into certain areas. Not every where is as safe as I would like. I apologise for not pointing this out before."

[Laura-Lana]

((Oh. Sorry. I had figured he had left the bridge already. I'll edit my previous post a little.))

 

"Dangerous?"

 

He looked at Helios with a raised brow. What exactly was Mr. Kind and Peaceful hiding here?

 

"Guess it was lucky that I have taken a shower before I started exploring. I had had no time to stumble into anything dangerous yet. Thanks a lot for the clothes by the way."

 

Rolo tugged a bit on his shirt. Technically Nicolas had been the one who had provided the clothes but Rolo was getting the impression that Helios considered himself responsible for the facility, which would make him something of the leader.

[Fortune86]

Helios shook his head, looking a little sad.

 

"There is no need for thanks. I'm afraid the clothes were most likely stolen. We are not yet fully self sufficent and don't have a lot of money, so we must occaisonally turn to theft to obtain clothing, food and medical supplies. However I hope that we will be able to support ourselves quite soon and repay those we have robbed."

 

He half turned to look in the direction of the garden. It had only recently been dug out and constructed, and several vegetables had been planted, but it would be a while before anything could be harvested. That reminded Helios that he had promised to construct a green house too, and perhaps somewhere to raise animals. There was still so much to do.

 

Helios looked back to Rolo and gave an apologetic shrug.

 

"I'm afraid that during the early days of construction we had limited resources and materials. Therefore parts of Avalon are somewhat unstable. We are reinforcing them now we have better tools and materials to work with, but such things take time. In the mean time they are best avoided until they can be properly secured."

[Laura-Lana]

If Helios had intended to shock Rolo with the admission that the clothes were stolen, he had chosen the wrong audience. The brotherhood wasn't above thievery either (at least not their section) and Rolo was proud to be a very good one actually.

 

Cameras of course were the bane of his existance, but if he was paired with 'SC' things tended to go very well.

 

SC's power was to change the colour of his eyes, which would have been very unspectacular if using this power did not have the strange side effect of destroying every electronic device in a radius of twenty meters.

 

So he just shrugged and listened as Helios was describing the dangers of the place. He was grateful for the clothes no matter how they had been procured.

 

"Oh my. And here I had feared you'd admit Mrs. Evanson our Spanishteacher was hidden in this abyss, ready and waiting to attack unsuspecting students. I've always wondered where she lairs when she isn't teaching us."

 

He pointed toward the drop.

 

"Very well. Underdeveloped areas that are unstable and thus should be avoided. Where are they?"

Edited January 22, 2013 by Laura-Lana

[Fortune86]

Helios got the impression that Rolo wasn't too perturbed by the idea that his clothes were probably stolen. Presumably those in the Brotherhood had also found that beggars can't be choosers, or always law abidding.

 

"Most of them are in the levels below" said Helios. "But there are a few doors with red crosses painted on them around here too. If you see one don't open it. They should be locked, but some of the children like to play games. Dares and so forth you know. And if you find a door that has been barred and chained, really don't open it."

 

He hesitated and then decided he should warn Rolo about Scissors too. Probably best to forewarn him and avert any accidents.

 

"You might also bump into Scissors. He looks quite frightening I admit, he was intended to be, but he is quite harmless. It's probably best to give him right of way though."

[Laura-Lana]

That sounded omnious. This scissor sounded like artifical intelligence with Helios 'he was intended to be' comment and that was always a problem for Rolo. But he wasn't willing to let his worry show.

 

"So you have Mrs Evanson hidden here somewhere after all. Wait. You said this Scissors is quite harmless. Can't be Mrs. Evanson then. In what way 'frightening' then?

 

Oh and since I am already asking questions, what is the difference between the red cross areas and the locked down with chains areas. I mean if you are worried the ground might give way or the walls will collapse wouldn't that warrant the same kind of precautions?"

[Fortune86]

"When we first started building Avalon our defences were very low" explained Helios. "I built Scissors as a kind of scarecrow, to scare people away. I don't know if you ever heard rumours of a silver monster haunting the subway, but that was him. He would chase after people who weren't supposed to be around. I'm very glad to say that they all ran away. I don't know what he would have done if he ever caught someone. Stand and stare at them most likely."

 

"We call him Scissors because, well, he's mostly fashioned out of blades. You can always hear him about, he's quite noisy, but you might get scratched if you get too close. He's friendly enough and knows to not to get too near to people, but accidents happen."

 

"The doors adorned with red crosses lead to areas that are either being fixed or need to be. The chained door must never be opened."

[Laura-Lana]

((You know I imagined Rolo introverted and morose when I created him. Instead he's a chatterbox, curious as a cat and a bit strange. Serves me right for trying to put a character on him before playing him.))

 

Yes, artificial intelligence. Give the man a cookie. Or boy in his case. Helios seemed pretty convinced he was harmless. Unfortunately all the probablys indicated that he wasn't really sure how his creation would react if challenged. However Rolo was more interested in the mystery of the chained doors at the moment.

 

"But why? What can be so horrible about an unfinished room? I mean you've build doors there. Isn't the point of a door that it can be opened?"

[Fortune86]

"It's not that they are unfinished..." said Helios, wondering how Rolo would react to what he was about to tell him. "It's what that corridor and the rooms it leads to contain."

 

He would have to tell him. He'd probably find out anyway and it wasn't like it was a big secret. It was just so...shameful.

 

"Scissors is actually Scissors II" he said. "His 'older brother', as it were, Scissors I, is trapped inside those rooms. When I was building them I fell sick and was unable to complete them. One of the others thought they could finish them for me as a surprise, but they couldn't understand my programming and made mistakes."

 

Once again Helios looked sorrowful, but now it was mixed with guilt.

 

"Scissors I was defective. They were unable to differentiate between friend and foe, and so chased after everyone. As their programming was faulty the three laws of robotics weren't in place either. Scissors I attacked anyone they caught. Thankfully the posistioning of the blades meant they couldn't outright kill anyone, but they did hurt them quite badly. My...perfectionism when chosing building materials meant they couldn't be destroyed easily either. In the end we managed to trick Scissors I into chasing Nicolas into a dead end, sealed the door behind him, and Nicolas teleported out. He's still in there. We don't dare try and enter."

 

Helios hung his head and looked down at his shoes, like a kid caught bathing the dog in food colouring.

[Laura-Lana]

Rolo turned around when Helios started speaking and looked at the door through which he had come as if he imagined Scissors I behind it.

 

"Oh good." Rolo grinned as the other mutant finished "So you have a proper monster after all that does justice to the coolnessfactor of this complex. I was beginning to worry that you'd really have nothing but mechanic scarecrows and old rooms."

 

The boy turned around and noted that Helios looked quite dejected.

 

"Oh, come on! You can't feel guilty because you... no make that someone ELSE accidentally misprogrammed your robot years ago. You said you didn't even have deaths. Bad things happen, you can't let them drag you down.

I mean look at me. I've three deaths on my hands, one of them a very good friend. And that's my tally for today. Probably. The day isn't over yet. If I were acting like you, I'd probably have to jump of a building. Ops. Forgot I can fly. Jump into a volcano then."

Edited January 22, 2013 by Laura-Lana

[Fortune86]

"I am responsible for those in my care" said Helios. "People come here to be protected and to lead quiet lives. They don't want to worry about being attacked by my wayward creations. Needless to say, I have stepped up the security measures around my unfinished works considerably."

 

Despite himself he was quite pleased when Rolo described Avalon as being cool. At heart Helios was just a kid who wanted people to praise him and his efforts. He knew he probably shouldn't, but he couldn't help but crave other people's approval.

 

But he'd settle for their acceptance.

[DragonSpirit009]

Nicolas finally cleaned up the kitchen when he noticed the light flickering in the room. Confused he looked at his calendar on the fridge, its only been twee weeks since he last charged it which meant electricity is getting lost some where.

 

Vanishing to the control room Nicolas started to inspect the system. He knew Helios created it to last long but Nicolas gave it every now and again a boost allowing the too live with electricity for more than three months.

 

Rubbing his hands together small sparks started to run through the room. Seconds later bolts of electricity flowed I to the machines causing the light to stop flickering. As he finished Nicolas disappeared and re appeared behind Helios, smoking more than usual from the burst of electricity.

 

"There is a leakage with the power its seems."

[Laura-Lana]

"Oh they do want that, do they? In the middle of the war between the humans and the mutants? Well, I want my family to be alive again. Tough luck, I guess."

 

Rolo sighed and softened his voice a little.

 

"I still would like it better if you guys joined the brotherhood, but what you've done here is amazing. You should be proud of yourself, not worry about the fact that you aren't quite as perfect as you wish you were. Give yourself a break. Life is too short to dwell on one's mistake overlong."

 

Death was something Rolo had lived with ever since his powers had emerged and started to affect his heart. Helios had bought him a bit more time, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe he was cured now. Rolo believed in living in the now and letting both the past and the future care after itself. He was afraid dwelling to long on either would rob him of whatever sanity he still could call his own.

[Fortune86]

"I prefer to look to the future" said Helios. "I want..."

 

He was cut off when Nicolas appeared behind him and explained there was a power leakage. Helios' brow furrowed and he turned to face his friend.

 

"Again? This is truely most vexing."

 

Most of Avalon was powered by the Core, a perpetual energy machine that had taken Helios several weeks to build and perfect. Since its creation it had worked flawlessly, like most of Helios' designs, but every now and again a link between the Core and something it was powering seemed to go faulty. Sometimes it was caused by rats, which despite everyone's best efforts always snuck in somehow, or by someone losing control of their powers and causing accidental damage. Regardless of the reason, constant repairs were annoying.

 

"What has been affected this time?"

[Laura-Lana]

((Sorry. I didn't realize you had posted. I must have been still writing. No point in editing though, is there? Fortune caught that quite well.))